Benadryl And Bed (Big Love)

[Chanel_no5]

***Note***

I'm still working on two other projects, but thanks to reading something highly inspiring from @AnonyMouse, this little thing decided to squeeze out in between, just because that always happens.  

***

“HhTSHH! Tsshoo! HaNKTssh! Huuuhh… AKTSSHhhoo!”

“Barb, seriously…” Bill said and turned off the TV. 

“I’m okay, I’m… I’m okay,” Barb replied with an unconvincing dismissive gesture. Bill looked at her swollen, streaming eyes and crimson nose, and he winced when she tried to sniffle but was unable to through the thick congestion. She rubbed her nose with the back of her hand, then rubbed her eyes with both hands. A drawn-out moan that was part annoyance and part misery (he doubted there was any relief in the sound; it certainly didn't seem to be any relief in the action) escaped her, and he didn't think she was even aware of it. 

The papers she was busy grading were probably important, but it wasn’t anything she needed to finish tonight. What she needed was Benadryl and going to bed.

“Barb!”

Bill usually just let her dismiss any form of concern, because he knew it mostly made her feel like some weak damsel in distress, but today she was so allergic it would have been cruel of him not to put his foot down.

“That’s enough, there is no point in you going on suffering like this when you have medication you can take. Unless you’re trying to get attention, but that’s more Nicki’s department isn’t it?”

He didn’t expect to intimidate her even when he raised his voice, not Barb, but maybe he could at least get her to take reason. Barb turned in his direction and shook her head.

“Bill, if I take Benadryl now, I’ll be knocked out cold within half an hour.”

“So?”

“I need to get this finished.”

“Tonight?”

She started nodding mid build-up and caught the spray from the sneeze in cupped hands.

“HeeptESSHHew! Yes, preferably.”

“Preferably, but not definitely,” Bill concluded and pulled her up in standing position. “Come on honey.”

“It’s just allergiiISSSHHHew!”

“Bless you. True, but I’ve listened to you sniffling and sneezing since you got home, and you need some relief. And some rest. You’ve worked yourself half to death lately… not that we don’t need the extra money, but even you need to sleep from time to time.”

“I’ll sleep when I’m finished with this.”

Bill took the remaining papers away from her.

“You’re finished for tonight.”

“Bill, you can be such a bully when you want to be,” she spat. It was true this was a bully’s action if ever there was one, but Barb sometimes forgot how hard she was pushing herself, so if he had to be one to slow her down for once, then so be it.

“Yes, and you can be way too stubborn for your own good,” he said. “Look at yourself, honey.”

“Heh-tSHHh! TsSH! EtSSHhoo!”

“Listen to yourself,” he added. “You need to get some relief from that, and you won’t if you don’t take your antihistamines.”

“You know how drowsy they make me, I can barely sit up.”

“Good thing you’re going to bed, then.”

Barb gave up trying to protest. She knew when Bill wouldn’t budge, and this tone of voice was the one he used when there was no more discussion. She threw her hands out in a gesture of irritated surrender, before heading up the stairs.

Twenty minutes later they were in bed, Barb with a double dose of Benadryl working its way through her system. Bill twirled a curl of her hair between his fingers.

“Feeling any better yet?” he asked.

“I feel like I’m drugged,” she slurred.

“Well, you are.”

He inched closer, gently swept her hair to the side and kissed that spot in the back of her neck that always made her shiver with pleasure.

“Just get some sleep, and you’ll feel better in the morning, okay?”

Barb only hummed in response, already half-asleep. Bill sighed. Barb’s allergies were the most long-lasting, spanning three seasons, although they varied in severity from year to year. In a way though, his wives had one allergy season each. Barb in spring (and summer, and fall), Nicki in summer, Margene in fall. Barb tried to control hers through willpower, despite always being proven it didn’t work. Nicki didn’t stop complaining, blaming everyone and everything for her late-blooming hayfever. And Margene became overly emotional - even for Margene, who was a bundle of emotions to begin with - from being tired and run-down.

If I ever marry a fourth, I’ll make sure to check her allergy history first, he thought as Barb began to snore. Heaving yet another sigh, he shoved ear plugs into his ears so he would at least have a fighting chance of falling asleep.

[tenderwarrior]

This was so great, Chanel! I love their dynamic and Barb's stubbornness.

[Chanel_no5]

On ‎2017‎-‎09‎-‎16 at 10:53 PM, tenderwarrior said:

This was so great, Chanel! I love their dynamic and Barb's stubbornness.

Thank you so much!! I'm really glad you liked it!  

Really, thank you so much!!  

Edited March 17, 2018 by Chanel_no5